Don Murray (Hoodlum Priest) plays Lacy, a blatantly bigoted New York cop, whose rabid hatred forces him into a bloody rampage in order to save himself and his job in this gritty and riveting 1975 cop drama. At one point in the film, Lacy rehearses a speech to be given to a cadre of right-wingers by intoning, “These are troubled times.” This is certainly the case for Lacy, since this 18-year veteran of the NYPD has been demoted from detective to patrol car because of his liberal use of deadly force on nasty perpetrators. When Lacy, a lit fuse of seething anger and racial epithets, encounters nasty black mugger Rabbit (Academy Award® Nominee James Earl Jones, The Great White Hope) who is terrorizing young schoolteacher Sally (Diahn Williams) at knifepoint in her apartment, it doesn’t take much for the cop to decide to put the thug on terror alert by shooting him. Is Sally grateful for blowing away the object of her torture? To Lacy’s
surprise, she instead testifies against him, accusing him of being a cold-blooded killer. Now, Lacy has to figure out a way out of this high-shootin’ mess. This controversial cop drama dealing with racial tensions was way ahead of its time and is even more relevant in today’s precarious social climate. Treat Williams, Dick Anthony Williams, Charles Siebert, Josh Mostel. Hank Garrett, Conchata Ferrell, Lilia Skala and a cameo by Danny DeVito, are all featured in this tough, underrated New York Cop film, directed by the late Ivan Nagy.